Manfred Weber ridicules UK’s blue passport ‘scam’

The U.K.’s plan to reintroduce blue passports is a “scam” and the “only thing” that the British government has achieved since the Brexit referendum, leading MEP Manfred Weber said Tuesday.

The leader of the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament and a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel was referring to a U.K. plan, announced in December, to replace the country’s burgundy passports with a blue design once it leaves the bloc.

Then-Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis had announced that after Brexit, the U.K. passport would no longer “conform to EU standards,” and its cover would change “from the standard EU burgundy colour to a blue and gold design.”

The color of U.K. passports was elevated by some Leave campaigners as a highly symbolic issue in the referendum campaign, although Remainers pointed out that the color was not dictated by Brussels and that the U.K. had the power to change the color of its passports whenever it wanted to.

Weber ridiculed the move, branding the debate around blue passports a “scam” and “the most drastic example of lack of leadership.”

“You didn’t have to leave the Union for that,” Weber told other MEPs at a plenary debate in Strasbourg. “The blue passport is the only thing they achieved in more than one-and-a-half years of negotiations,” he added, referring to the time elapsed since since the Brexit vote in June 2016.

Verhofstadt also cited other comments made by government officials in recent months, including prominent Brexiteer and Environment Secretary Michael Gove’s proposal to create further taxes and charges to curb the use of plastics. “Michael Gove doesn’t seem to remember that the ban on plastic bags stems from EU regulation,” Verhofstadt said.

Verhofstadt and Weber also took a hard stance on the EU’s offer to grant the U.K. a two-year transition period. Weber said his group would block any transition “if it’s not good enough.”

Verhofstadt said a transition must be “real.” “We won’t allow any cherry-picking,” he added.

The European Parliament does not have a direct role in the Brexit negotiations. But the assembly must give its consent to the withdrawal deal. It can also issue resolutions assessing the status of negotiations. Verhofstadt said the Parliament, which has already issued three resolutions on Brexit, would vote on another one before the European Council summit in late March.

YellowSubmarine

I think Weber is in danger of looking like a stereotypical German with no sense of humour.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 2:23 PM CET

sgu66

Could the EPP be the real reason the EU has problems?

Posted on 1/16/18 | 2:29 PM CET

François P

Good to see EU27 politicians trolling the brexiteers. More of that please!

Posted on 1/16/18 | 2:39 PM CET

glasspix 1

A much better example of a lack of leadership was the CDU-isation of the EPP under Weber’s watch. The EPP should have taken the CDU to task when it started to adopt the SPD’s and the Greens’ political agendas and going further left yet. Instead he was stomping his feet when parties like FIDESZ were fulfilling the EPP’s fundamental political manifesto to the letter. Another spineless appeaser from Germany.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 2:55 PM CET

Grexi

Yesh quite agree, it’s not nearly up there with free roaming charges.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 3:31 PM CET

Klinko

Love Weber, the eU’s Farage.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 3:32 PM CET

Alex T

Manfred “Final Solution” Weber is an irrelevant figure of fun.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 3:35 PM CET

aBoy

François P

It’s all they are fit for. Why not, go for it.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 3:40 PM CET

Stan

François P
“Good to see EU27 politicians trolling the brexiteers. More of that please!”

It’s because you EU politician is always professional and considered. It is a sight to behold.

Saintixe

Saintixe

I would not say the British attachment to its dark blue passport of yore is ridicule.

But I will say the colour of passport falls under the care of each EU country. Thus blaming Brussels for a colour Britain did not and does not like is unfair.

Blame the former British governments but apologize to Brussels for taxing it unjustly.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 4:02 PM CET

Aaron

Saintixe

Nobody has ever said we couldn’t have had different coloured passports. Farage first raised the issue as a symbol of the EU’s grab for sovereignty.

Watching the screaming and whinging from the EU on the subject perhaps he had a point.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 4:25 PM CET

The Scot

What a waste of time surely the great & wonderful E.P. and its member MEPs have more pressing things to discuss like the ongoing massive youth unemployment in its southern member states rather than showboating about the colour of passports.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 4:25 PM CET

devog

This unabated and shameful public violence against the UK is gradually leading me to revise my past views on Greece and become more sympathetic for her. It also makes me feel happy for Switzerland who was wise enough to stay out of this mess, even if Brexit talks push back key issues in an inconvenient way for her.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 4:33 PM CET

ulrich

Weber couldn’t be more accurate. The UK government is a complete shambles and yet the British public seem to accept this like lambs on the way to the slaughterhouse.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 4:47 PM CET

EXPEL UK NOW !

hahaha bien dit Manfred. And blue is the the color of the EUROPEAN UNION. Je suis très impatient de voir le prochain épisode de cette série palpitante. 🙂

Posted on 1/16/18 | 4:55 PM CET

Fiery

@ulrich

Do you think they possibly exaggerate a teensy bit? Of course not you are far too clever to be fooled by bullsh|t. My apologies.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 4:55 PM CET

Fiery

@devog

Any problems we cause you is regretful.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 4:56 PM CET

pex.t

I think it will end with a ridicule explanation of weber and verhofstad like usual…

“Resolution of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of the European Communities, meeting within the Council of 23 June 1981

Official Journal C 241 , 19/09/1981 P. 0001 – 0007…

recalling that the Heads of Governments meeting in Paris on 9 and 10 December 1974 requested that the possibility of creating a Passport Union and, in advance, the introduction of a uniform passport, be examined and that the European Council, meeting in Rome on 3 and 4 December 1975, agreed on the basis of the report submitted to it to introduce a passport of uniform design,

anxious to promote any measures which might strengthen the feeling among nationals of the Member States that they belong to the same Community,

considering that the establishment of such a passport is likely to facilitate the movement of nationals of the Member States,

have drawn up a passport of which the uniform format and scope are described in Annexes I and II respectively, which form an integral part of this resolution,

have resolved that the Member States will endeavour to issue the passport by 1 January 1985 at the latest. …

ANNEX I CHARACTERISTICS OF THE UNIFORM PASSPORT

A. Passport format

The passport format will be uniform. The format will be decided upon by a working party taking into account technical problems and in particular those posed by the possible insertion of a laminated card.

Should a laminated card be inserted, it should have the dimensions stated in the draft ICAO recommendation.

B. Passport cover (a) Colour : burgundy red. …”

Posted on 1/16/18 | 4:59 PM CET

Alex T

@EXPEL UK NOW ! “hahaha bien dit Manfred….blah blah blah

This is of course Priscilla being an stupi cnut again.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 5:08 PM CET

Manfred's troll commander

Alex T
“This is of course Priscilla being her normal self”

Fixed it for you.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 5:17 PM CET

HeShe

I like the pink one. For something that doesn’t matter, the EP sure do make a lot of noise about it.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 5:22 PM CET

Alex

Funny how the biggest achievement as of now is to change the colous of their passports :)))). And the colous is: …. wait for it …. wait for it … wait for it … BLUE with GOLDEN :))))). How ironic. And how many more of these are to come.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 5:37 PM CET

Dan

Alex

Still think we should have gone for Azure blue 😉

Posted on 1/16/18 | 5:40 PM CET

Jason

If he had his way the New Passport design would still have EUROPEAN UNION on the cover & inside pages! The UK is leaving the EU Manfred so i expect the passport is just the start of much more positive change to come. Will be glad when the country has freed itself from the shackles of EU & we don’t have to listen or read more EU tripe!

Posted on 1/16/18 | 5:47 PM CET

Alex

@ Dan
Apparently you have that freedom now. Though you had it all along :))) but please tell @ Jason because he still seem to be in the dark.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 6:00 PM CET

Rebecca Hughes

@Alex – Yeah we read the article Alex. Thanks for repeating it.

What’s new for Weber to waste more time on this?

Posted on 1/16/18 | 6:01 PM CET

Peter2

Congratulations on a very elegant passport colouring.
Among the first decisions on brexit path? There could be some issues with more weight and importance, but everybody makes their own priorities…

Posted on 1/16/18 | 6:03 PM CET

Dan

@Alex

See @Pex.t post, he probably isn’t wrong. ~\o/~

Posted on 1/16/18 | 6:03 PM CET

Louise

@Peter2
“There could be some issues with more weight and importance, but everybody makes their own priorities…”

indeed they do, Weber must have written this in his lunch break.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 6:07 PM CET

Alex

@Dan.
He’s not wrong. He’s just selective.

A. The uniform passport will be available to nationals of the Member States of the European Communities.
B. Member States may decide to issue passports of this type to other persons.
C. Member States may in certain special cases issue passports in another form, e.g. diplomatic or service passports.
D. If necessary in particular cases, Member States may, without prejudice to the passport to be drawn up in accordance with this resolution, continue to issue the old type of passport.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 6:28 PM CET

pex.t

@Alex

“He’s not wrong. He’s just selective. “…

Maybe you are…

This defense will lead to nothing you are talking about special exceptions and transitional period…

These exceptions are in all countries, for example us diplomats have black passport and not blue one…

Weber has said “The red color has never been imposed by Europe.”

the reality check is that’s a mandatory decision of European council…

So weber is lying, like verhofstad….

Posted on 1/16/18 | 6:43 PM CET

crispin hythe

The English are so dumbed-down by TV and video games that arguments mean nothing; they can only respond to the crudest stimuli. Thus, they vote for lies emblazoned on the side of a bus, and imagine that blue passports [like 90% of all passports] will stop the world laughing at their brexistupidity.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 6:44 PM CET

Alex T

@Manfred’s troll commander
“Fixed it for you.”

Thank you Manfred, most eloquently corrected.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 7:04 PM CET

Losers

Who wins in a troll-off between Boris, Selmayr, Weber and Verhofstadt?

Posted on 1/16/18 | 8:02 PM CET

tony

Devog

I suggest you read ‘adults in the room’ by varoufakis. The way the EU and the IMF acted towards Greece was truly unpleasant.

Do not trust either organisation

Posted on 1/16/18 | 8:34 PM CET

wow

SCARY! He only smiles for that particular schadenfreude feeling. Like making ‘friends’ Greece bankrupt and calling them lazy. Sadistic, you know.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 8:59 PM CET

wow

The French were meant to have the heart to keep the schadenfreude in check. But they seem to have caught it as well.

Bye then.

*Runs*

Posted on 1/16/18 | 9:03 PM CET

tony

As has been clearly mentioned already eu passports have a standard format and with the exception of Croatia, the cover must be burgundy red.

So both weber and verhofstadt do not know the laws they help to bring in.

Britain renews it’s got passport printing contract every five years and as the renewal fell due after we exit the eu and the words ‘member of the European union’ have to be removed the decision was sensibly taken to revert to a symbol of our former independence with the much loved blue passport

Posted on 1/16/18 | 9:08 PM CET

wow

My humour only extends to laughing at others. That’s why my country’s entertainment never gets anywhere out of Germ@ ny.

Brexit will change this and the world will suddenly love us and want to live here.

Posted on 1/16/18 | 9:32 PM CET

ZeeGermans

A Kráut ridiculing the UK on lack of leadership…. Oh, the irony. Trololol…..

Posted on 1/17/18 | 12:17 AM CET

Stefan M

He needs more work to occupy his time.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 12:26 AM CET

?

Passports issued by EU States to their citizens have the common “recommended” lay out. They are burgundy in colour and have the words “European Union” printed on the cover, accompanied by the name of the issuing EU State.

1921 – The first UK passport in the format of a book was issued in Blue

1988 – The first burgundy coloured machine-readable passports were issued in the UK following the common format introduced by the European Economic Community.

It took nine members of the-then European Community (now the 28-strong EU) years to finally adopt the red shades its countries use now. Croatia is the only exception with a blue cover.

We must never forget that Britain’s civil and tolerant nature derives from our own traditions and not those handed down to us by the Eurocrats.

Our centuries old recognition of individual rights began the long march towards the liberal democracies we take for granted today, British symbols and documents such as the Magna Carta represented the freedoms inherited across the world.

We have often observed developments across the Channel, and too often we have witnessed social, political and economic upheaval, lawlessness and authoritarian rule.

We should never forget what we inherit.

It was wishful thinking that Brits would capitulate their identity to an artificial supranational state which has only existed for a few decades, instead of their own nation which has evolved traditions from over 300 years of history

Posted on 1/17/18 | 12:58 AM CET

?

Original post disappeared presumably because it included a url to a European website.

Shortened veraion

UK issues first book format passport in 1921. It was BLUE.

UK issues first Burgandy passport following the agreed recommended EU format and colour decided by the then 9 member states to establish an EU identity. In the EU only Croatia does not conform to the burgundy colour.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 1:07 AM CET

edel

As stated, never was mandated the color, but it does had a reason behind it try to harmonize the color.

When in airports (where vast majority of passports are being used) people stand on lines to go through a border check, it is easy for assistants to determinate if you are in the proper queue (resident-nonresident) with a quick glance at your passport’s cover color. Seems silly, but when you take account the millions of instances people gets in wrong queues, saves tons of wasted time for both people and border patrol agents.

Now, if we can help British and Croatians self-esteem with an additional simple color-paper change, we all could live with it just fine.

I have a proposal though, woulnd’t it be cool the EU now decides to change to blue passports too! Just to mess around a bit.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 1:53 AM CET

bluebell

@Losers
“Who wins in a troll-off between Boris, Selmayr, Weber and Verhofstadt?”

The main thing which distinguishes Boris and Verhofstadt (even if one disagrees with their reasoning) is that there is no personal malice unlike the mean minded/spirited Selmayr and Weber. Selmayr at least has some intellectual capacity even if he chooses to use it for mischief. Weber it appears has no saving graces unfortunately.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 2:42 AM CET

wow

My humour only extends to laughing at others. That’s why my country’s entertainment never gets anywhere out of Germ@ ny. If we cried all day long becausethey beat us in terms of worldwide imprtance and economy, this would mean public acknowledgement of their superiority.

Which is why we laugh – like children in a dark basement, out of fear. And we whistle a lot for this very matter.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 4:49 AM CET

Steuersklave

@aBoy
François P

It’s all they are fit for. Why not, go for it.

Unfortunately they are not. They are the ones who decide what our brexit will look like. We have to take what they decide to grant. May has achieved exactly nothing so far, she caved in on every topic.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 4:51 AM CET

Bertie Sachsen-Coburg

My unnatural hate for my German father ‘led to a hatred of Germany’ in the UK.

Jack Boot

Addendum: Such people who prefer red would be better off representing Russian interests. if they come to Mother Russia, they can address to me any time, i can help them feeling at home in our beautiful taiga, i also know the best moscovitian fleamarkets for purchasing household appliances. Have a look at my modest home and you know i don’t tell lies!

Posted on 1/17/18 | 5:09 AM CET

?

@edel

“help British and Croatians self-esteem”

Isn’t the Blue just a reset to pre EU in line with the fact the UK will no longer be a member of the EU?

“I have a proposal though, woulnd’t it be cool the EU now decides to change to blue passports too!”

Go ahead plenty of countries have Blue passports. But it took the original 9 EU members several years to agree to Burgundy….. How long for the E27 to agree? Perhaps they should revert to he original lilac suggestion? 🙂

Posted on 1/17/18 | 7:53 AM CET

wow

I didn’t post the last post at 4am. I was sound asleep in my warn bed.

@fake wow – I don’t even understand what you’re is trying to say.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 8:32 AM CET

Pex.t

@Pax
He’s just one of those many nasty krauts, no surprise there

Perfect description of wow who isn’t but an dad paid troll to undermine the eu

Posted on 1/17/18 | 8:53 AM CET

The Economist

webber who’s country can’t even form a government and he’s the nerve to attack any other country. german arrogance knows no bounds. And well done webber showing how petty and childish you and your eu commissars are. Pathetic!!!!!!

Posted on 1/17/18 | 9:02 AM CET

wow

*I don’t really need the money… but it seems silly not to!

Is it via Jeremy Corbyn? He’s very anti-EU.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 10:02 AM CET

wow

* There are SO MANY anti-EU people In the UK/EU that I can’t think who my empolyer would be. You do know the UK referendum came out a majority wanting to leave the EU. That’s a LOT of people who might want to employ me! Send the link. Ta .

Posted on 1/17/18 | 10:04 AM CET

tpk

Weber is right in a factual sense, but politically and psychologically its completely wrong as this only feeds the prejudices of Brexiteers (even if this was only a very small part of a long speech and Politico only picked this little piece).
EU should much more look how it comes accross in UK, without actually changing any of its positions. That could really be a game changer in Brexit.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 10:37 AM CET

Alex T

The almost constant stream of low level insults and snide remarks emanating from such nonentities as Weber, Verhofstadt and also Barnier is picked up and noted in the UK, and has persuaded many people who, like me voted Remain, to change their minds and to now support Leave. For the only thing the remarks and insults demonstrate is just how undemocratic the EU really is.

Lies upon lies upon lies… BoJo the clown doubling down on weekly savings for the NHS, lies before the ref, lies after… Would you ever be gone already, this is dragging on and on and on. Just cut the chord, no waiting another year, just go WTO now and be done ffs.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 11:17 AM CET

Take back control

Ruin Britannia!!

Posted on 1/17/18 | 11:44 AM CET

mephistopheles

@Take back control

Do hurry and take your anti-psychotic medication.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 12:28 PM CET

Stan

@tpk
“Weber is right in a factual sense, but politically and psychologically its completely wrong as this only feeds the prejudices of Brexiteers”

Weber pretends that the symbolism that we all thought was a bit infantile when they announced the blue passport actually means quite a lot to the EU bods as this out of the ‘blue’ rant about it demonstrates. The pink passport obviously is symbolically more important to some in the EU than they let on.

Posted on 1/17/18 | 12:42 PM CET

bluebell

@wow
I didn’t post the last post at 4am. I was sound asleep in my warn bed.

I think most of us were aware that the syntax was completely wrong for English and therefore was not written by a native speaker.

Posted on 1/21/18 | 5:22 PM CET

Catesby

And typical of the EU’s lack of understanding of the British character Weber and Verhofstadt missed the point completely. It is a symbolic change, everyone recognises that except them.